Taking Great Birthday Party Pictures
By Mike Dougherty "Grandpa Mike", Fri Dec 9th
Say "Happy Birthday" Capture the precious moments of your kid birthday party for alltime by taking great pictures with your still camera, digitalcamera and your video camera. Your child gets ready to blow out the candles on their birthdaycake (the cake you spent so much time making), you pick up yourcamera to capture this very important moment in your child'slife and...
You're out of film, you've run out of Smart Media cards for yourdigital camera or you're out of tape for your video camera, oryou're out of batteries! Sound familiar? While everyone waits, the candles on your wonderful kid birthdaycake are now melting away, and your child and all their guestsare getting impatient. Film cameras, digital and video are now fairlycommon in more and more homes. But most of the time, our sit forgotten on a shelf in adusty closet... Then, at the last minute we say "now where did Iput the camera?" So do yourself, your family and your child a big favor... Several days before your kid birthday party, find your camera orcameras and get them ready to capture all the very specialmoments of your child's birthday party. Pick up plenty of batteries (make sure they're the right ones) Charge up your video camera batteries Pick up plenty of film Pick up Smart Media cards for your digital camera Pick up plenty of blank videotape Make sure your are working You absolutely don't want to leave these preparations until thelast minute... If you do, it's very likely you'll run out of time and won't beable to stop for batteries or film or videotape. How To Take Great Pictures Of Your Child Birthday Party *A Tip From Grandpa Mike I spent a lot of years as a
professional videographer,(I evenwon a regional Emmy) so when it comes to taking pictures andshooting video, I know what I'm talking about. First of all, if you don't have time to take pictures yourself,make sure you ask (someone you can trust) to be your "official"photographer and or videographer... Don't pose all your pictures... Literally "capture" some of theaction of the kid activities you've planned... Take pictures ofyour guests as they arrive (especially if it's a costume party). Take pictures of your child and their guests playing birthdayparty games, doing crafts, playing with balloons and anythingelse they do... After a while, your guests will forget about the andyou'll be able to capture some excellent candid shots. Don't pose your subjects in front of any windows. The outsidesunlight will cause your subjects faces to be much too dark,even if you use a flash. And remember, you can give some of your guests disposablecameras so you'll be sure to get some "kid's point of view"shots. Polaroid are also great because everyone can seePolaroid pictures soon after you've taken them and you can evenlet your guests take their picture home as a party favor. So remember Get all your ready well in advance so that when yourbirthday child gets ready to blow out the candles on that veryspecial cake, you'll be more than ready to capture the moment onfilm or video. Who knows, that shot could turn out to be a wonderful familyheirloom! For more great information and tips to help you put together afun kid birthday party, visit us at Fun-Kid-Birthday-Parties.com About the author:Mike Dougherty is a regional Emmy award winning videographer andis now the webmaster for Fun-Kid-Birthday-Parties.com
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